Juventus are now nine points ahead of Napoli with Milan a further two points adrift and Fiorentina, despite a 2-1 reverse away to Cagliari, sit fourth, one point ahead of Lazio.

Written by Agence-France Presse

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Milan:

Fabio Quagliarella and Alessandro Matri scored one apiece for Juventus as the champions reinforced their Serie A title defence with a commanding 2-1 away win to Inter Milan here at the San Siro on Saturday.

Inter began the day 18 points adrift of the leaders and despite having a game in hand had hoped to close the gap as they continue to battle for a top three place that would guarantee Champions League football next season.

However, the Nerazzurri, who welcomed several players back late from World Cup qualifying matches in South America, were outclassed in the first half and, despite Argentine Rodrigo Palacio producing a superb leveller 10 minutes after the restart, the hosts were silenced again when Matri struck on the hour.

Uruguayan international Edinson Cavani put his travel nightmares behind him and came off the bench to score a brace in a 5-3 win over Torino that sent Napoli back into second place in Serie A on Saturday.

Leaders Juventus had earlier taken their lead over Napoli to 12 points after a comfortable 2-1 win over Inter Milan at the San Siro that dropped the Nerazzurri to sixth place.

AC Milan then provisionally jumped up into second thanks to a 1-0 win away to ten-man Chievo.

Riccardo Montolivo pounced on the rebound from a Mario Balotelli free-kick to seal a 1-0 win for AC Milan over Chievo on Saturday which moved the Rossoneri up to second place in Serie A 11 points behind Juventus.

However, Napoli overcame a patchy first half to see Swiss midfielder Blerim Demaili score a sensational hat-trick before Cavani's late double sealed victory in the closing stages.

Juventus are now nine points ahead of Napoli with Milan a further two points adrift and Fiorentina, despite a 2-1 reverse away to Cagliari, sit fourth, one point ahead of Lazio.